Executive Moves:
Senior Appointments in Financial Services
Welcome to our insights into C-suite and executive movements across financial services.
In this edition of our ongoing series tracking senior leadership transitions across the financial services sector, we highlight some of the movements announced between January to March 2026.
This year has begun with a clear uplift in senior leadership changes across the industry, particularly within CEO, Board and CFO appointments. The momentum that began to build in the second half of 2025 has not only held but, in many areas, strengthened further. A contributing factor appears to be rising M&A activity across the sector, with organisations realigning leadership to match new ownership structures, integration priorities, and growth ambitions. Further reflections can be seen in our Q1 M&A market insights.
CEO and Board appointments remain especially active. This continues the trend observed last quarter and reflects the broader forces shaping the FS landscape, including boards strengthening oversight and adaptability, CEOs transitioning in response to new strategic priorities, and organisations increasingly blending permanent hires with interim capability to maintain delivery at pace. Our recent article on board resilience and agility explores this further, highlighting how governance expectations are evolving as organisations navigate growing complexity and disruption. Similarly, CFO appointments have also started the year strongly, mirrored in the heightened activity within our Finance practice at Eton Bridge, where demand for both interim and permanent mandates continues to rise.
Across Eton Bridge Partners, we have seen increased activity across all of our functional specialisms, reflecting both the breadth and depth of leadership change underway in the sector. Our Interim and Search practices have delivered equally strong performance in the first quarter, with a notable rise in demand for transitional and change‑oriented leaders. This aligns with broader market signals indicating that interim executives are now being deployed more strategically, particularly when organisations require immediate impact or specialist capability. You can read more here on how the use of interim executives has evolved.
In this report, we highlight leadership moves across:
- CEO & Board
- Human Resources & Reward
- Finance
- Digital, Technology & Transformation
You can also view last quarter’s executive moves here
If you’re looking to partner on upcoming appointments or succession planning, please get in touch.
- David Ritchie: Named Chief Executive Officer of Scottish National Investment Bank, succeeding Al Denholm, previously the bank’s Chief Strategy Officer.
- Matt Benchener: Named Chief Executive Officer of Hargreaves Lansdown, effective July 2026; having spent over 17 years at Vanguard.
- Cooper Abbott: Named Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director at City of London Investment Group, previously Chief Executive Officer of Matthew International Capital Management.
- Mahesh Aditya: Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Santander UK Group Holdings and Santander UK, previously Group Chief Risk Officer at Banco Santander.
- Simon Kenyon: Named Chief Executive Officer at C. Hoare & Co., effective June 2026, having spent almost 19 years at Lloyds Banking Group.
- Enrique Alvarez Labiano: Named Chief Executive Officer at OSB Group, currently CEO of Retail and Business Banking at Santander UK and Santander UK Group.
- Nicola Bannister: Named Chief Executive Officer of TSB Bank, having been with the organisation since 2022; Bannister will succeed current TSB CEO Marc Armengol.
- Wissam Khoury: Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Teciem, previously Executive Vice President at Finastra.
- Andy Homer: Former Chief Executive Officer of Towergate appointed Non-Executive Board Member at Jensten Group.
- David McMillan: Former Esure Group Chief Executive Officer, appointed Non-Executive Chair of the Jensten Group Board.
- Fiona McCarthy: Appointed to the Board of Directors at Close Brothers having joined the business in 2019 as Financial Planning & Analysis Director and subsequently held role of Group Chief Financial Officer.
- Linda Myers: Appointed Non-Executive Director at W.A.G Payment Solutions. Myers will join the Audit & Risk, Nomination & Governance, and Remuneration Committees.
- Sir Douglas Flint: Named Chair of the Board at Prudential, previously Group Finance Director and then Group Chair at HSBC in addition to Chair at both Aberdeen Group and IP Group.
- Sarah Ellicott: Appointed Chief of Staff at L&G – Asset Management, having joined in 2019 and previously held General Counsel roles.
- Claire Howdle: Appointed Chief of Staff at Servaada, previously Group Finance Chief of Staff at Phoenix Group.
- Robin Bulloch: Appointed Non-Executive Director at OSB Group. Bulloch will join the Group Audit Committee and Group Risk Committee.
- Sam Dobbyn: Appointed Non-Executive Director of Chrysalis Investments to oversee the company’s transition to a new investment strategy.
Human Resources & Reward
- Jason Spivey: Named Director of People and Organisation at Investec, previously Managing Director and Group CHRO at Union Bancaire Privée.
- Abigail Fisher: Appointed Chief People Officer at Grant Thornton UK in a newly created role following external investment from Cinven; previously People Director at Eversheds Sutherland.
- Katarina Rosen: Named People Director for NatWest’s Private Banking & Wealth Management franchise, Coutts, previously senior HR leader at UBS.
- Laura McCall: Named Chief People Officer at True Potential, marking the first permanent hire into the firm’s newly created executive role. McCall joins from Baillie Gifford.
- Prabhjot Mehta: Appointed VP, Global Compensation Delivery at Sompo, previously Head of Reward at EDF Trading.
- Sushmita Sircar: Appointed VP, Compensation and Benefits at CMC Markets, previously Reward Manager at Athora.
- Paul Exall: Appointed Interim Head of Reward at IG Group, previously Global Executive Director, Compensation at WPP Media.
- Claudio Gallicchio: Appointed Interim Group Head of Reward at Starling, covering maternity leave, previously held senior reward roles at Lloyds Banking Group.
- Jayne Cottam: Appointed Chief Financial Officer at Great Portland Estates, previously Chief Financial Officer at Assura plc.
- Jim Bichard: Named Chief Financial Officer at Lloyd’s becoming a member of the Executive Team, previously led PwC’s global insurance practice.
- Ryan Heaps: Named Chief Financial Officer at Tandem Bank following promotion from Deputy Chief Financial Officer.
- Donald Joyce: Appointed Chief Financial Officer at Cubico Sustainable Investment, previously interim Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President at ib vogt.
- Pete Burrill: Appointed Interim Group Chief Financial Officer at Standard Chartered, previously Group Head of Central Finance and Deputy Chief Financial Officer at the same business.
- Diego De Giorgi: Named Head of EMEA for Apollo, previously Group Chief Financial Officer at Standard Chartered.
- Andrew Richards: Appointed permanent Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director at Finseta, having previously held the role on an interim basis.
- Michelle Li: Appointed Chief Financial Officer at Hamilton Global Specialty, previously in senior finance roles at RenaissanceRe.
- Susan Panuccio: Named Group Chief Financial Officer at Howden Group, previously Chief Financial Officer at News Corp.
- Jeff Davies: Appointed Chief Financial Officer at Resolution Life Group, previously Group Chief Financial Officer at Legal & General.
- Mark Hardiman: Appointed Chief Financial Officer at Osmosis Investment Management, previously Finance Director at Cinven after holding the Chief Financial Officer of the Investments division at Aberdeen.
- Andrew Conroy: Named Chief Financial Officer at Newcastle Building Society, previously Chief Financial Officer at Leeds Building Society.
- Chris Freckelton: Appointed Chief Financial Officer at S&U plc, previously at Director at Deloitte.
- Giorgi Shagidze: Appointed Chief Financial Officer of Lion Finance Group PLC and Bank of Georgia, previously Chief Executive Officer of MAIB, Moldova’s largest bank.
Digital & Technology
- Chris Cochrane: Appointed Group Chief Information Officer at Aviva, effective summer 2026. Cochrane is currently Group Chief Information Technology Officer at M&G.
- Brad Novak: Appointed Chief Technology Officer at Rathbones, joining from DXC Technology where he served as Chief Information Officer.
- Lee Hepplewhite: Named Chief Technology Officer at Smart Pension, the UK-based fintech; previously Chief Technology and Information Officer at Outra.
- Charles Holive: Named Chief AI Officer for Corporate and Institutional Banking at BNP Paribas, previously Senior Vice President of AI Solutions & Platforms at PepsiCo.
- Phil Jones: Appointed Chief Information Officer at Markel Insurance, following his role as Chief Information Officer at Aspen Insurance.
- Ewan MacLeod: Appointed Chief Technology Officer at Nomo, bringing nearly 30 years of leadership experience across NatWest, Nationwide, Nordea Bank and Sohar International.
- Mark Jolley: Appointed Chief Information Officer, Energy & Commodities at TP ICAP; previously a Portfolio Manager at the same firm and former Global Head of IT Digital Direct Channels at HSBC.
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